


Altissia

by Lhugy_for_short



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Comfort, Gen, Injury, Spoilers for Chapter 9, implied brot4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 06:22:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9871298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lhugy_for_short/pseuds/Lhugy_for_short
Summary: While Noctis faces off against Leviathan behind a wall of waves, it's up to Prompto, Gladio, and Iggy to evacuate the city of Altissia. But out-manned and out-matched, the battle proves more costly than any of them could have imagined.(Spoilers for Ch.9 and onwards)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to cope with my heartbreak immediately after finishing Chapter 9, so some of the references (particularly to Prompto and the MTs) don't reflect reveals from later in the game. Ignis and all these darlings belong to Square Enix, who may someday explain to us exactly how this whole situation went down in canon - but until then, here's my humble spin on it!

Prompto had thought he was prepared to face anything. Giant monsters, check. Niflheim militants, no problem. Gods of immeasurable power, bring ‘em on. He’d set out on this journey ready to stand by his prince’s side through thick and thin. As long as he had Noct, Iggy and Gladio by his side, he wasn’t afraid of  _ anything _ \-- except maybe spiders. 

But that had been before they’d come to Altissia. Before Noct had been granted access to the Altar of the Tidemother, and the rite to summon Leviathan had begun. Before the struggle to evacuate the city had plunged them all into chaos. 

He’d lost sight of Ignis and Gladio some time ago, as the crowds swarmed past to escape the danger. Niff ships filled the sky overhead, and amidst the panic Magitech troopers had opened fire on the civilians below. Bodies littered the streets, blood seeped into the bay, yet still Prompto battled on. 

Popping off another quick round into the empty helm of an MT, he lunged off the balcony railing to knock a sniper from his perch below. This one was human, and he screamed as he fell, face-first, onto the pavement three stories down, landing with a sickening crack that turned Prompto’s stomach. But he ignored it, instead reaching a hand toward the two children whose lives he’d just saved. They cried and thanked him, then ran off toward the last of the ships that would carry refugees away from the battle. 

The blond sighed and got back to his feet. The sounds of fighting raged on all around him, as did the booming, haunting screams of the Hydraeon as someone -- was it Noct? Lunafreya? The Empire? -- tore it apart piece by piece within a watery coliseum. Beyond hope, he wished there was some way he could go to Noct’s aide, to make sure his friend, as well as his Oracle, were kept safe. 

But his place was here, among the civilians. He had a duty to do, and a promise to keep, so swallowing back his fear he raced back toward the center of the city to help the others. 

 

“Watch your six, Iggy!” 

Gladio heaved his broadsword once more over his head, bringing it down in a violent arc against the skulls of the MTs in front of him. They went down at once in a burst of smoke and flames, but he hardly had time to celebrate. A few yards away, Ignis was struggling to fend off a group of his own troopers. A single dagger flashed through the air, and the cable biting into the flesh of his arm snapped and fell to the ground. He ducked then, narrowly missing a spear to the shoulder, and instead dug his knives into the ankles of the enemies around him. It was a desperate plan, but one that did the job as four mechanical bodies clattered to the ground at once, immobilized for the time being. 

It was enough to buy him the time he needed. In the space of a heartbeat he’d withdrawn the flask from his pack. Gladio caught sight of the burning orange-red flames within as the older man called out, “Better get down!”

The flask hit the stone pavement with tremendous force, and just as Gladio turned away the Fira spell roared to life. Metal and bone alike creaked and crackled, and the MTs fell like pawns under the might of the flames. 

Suddenly, Gladio was struck with a dull weight from behind. Ignis had barely avoided the blast himself, and now leaned against his broad-shouldered friend as he beat furiously at the flames licking his right sleeve. “Son of a…! Ah, that’s  _ hot _ !” Another moment spent smacking at his charred shirt finally had the fire put out, and he released an exhausted sigh. For now, it was victory. 

“Not bad, Specs. Maybe you should try  _ not _ getting yourself surrounded next time, though.”

Ignis puffed a breath of moist air onto his lenses, wiped them gently on his intact sleeve, and placed them back on his nose. “I suppose I could give that a try, thank you.” 

“Guys!  _ Heyyyy _ !” Both Gladio and Ignis glanced up as a tuft of spiky blond hair appeared over the railing of the staircase above. Prompto’s smiling face came into view a moment later, and Gladio breathed a sigh of relief. The kid appeared to be in one piece and cheery as ever. 

“How’s the west end, Prompto?” Iggy called up to him. 

“All clear! You guys alright on this side?” 

A grin as Gladio shouldered his massive sword. “Of course. You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about us.” Ignis smiled and nodded his agreement as Prompto came bounding down the stairs. 

“Any word from Noct yet?” 

“Nothing.”

He chewed his lip, casting his sparkling blue eyes toward the high wall of seawater blocking their view of the  _ real _ battle raging within. “I hope he’s okay….” 

“He has the Lady Lunafreya at his side. We must trust in her power, and in his.” 

“Yeah….” 

Gladio put a gentle hand on Prompto’s shoulder. “If you really wanna help him, we gotta focus on what we can do here. You go check on the ships, make sure they all made it out safely. Iggy and I will go clean up the last of the Niff bastards up top.”

Loathe as he was to part from his friends again, Prompto knew Gladio was right. He steeled himself as, placing his own hand atop his friend’s on his shoulder, he nodded his understanding. “You got it, big guy.”

“Be safe,” Iggy smiled as he pulled the thin man into a hug. Prompto smiled up at him, nodded, and took off again, gun already drawn at his side. There was no time, however, to watch after him. Already, a Magitech engine was floating into place above the two fighters, and as the hatch opened they drew their weapons for the next brawl. 

“Got anymore of those handy spells on ya?”

“Sorry, that appears to have been my last one.”

“That sucks.”

“Indeed.”

The first of the mechanical soldiers clunked to the stone pavement about ten yards away. It stood, jerkily, as it recalibrated to face the two opponents. Gladio didn’t give it a chance to raise its blaster. 

He charged into the fray, sword arcing, splitting as many of the puppet-like troopers in half before they could even reach the ground. Ignis joined in a moment later with his knives, finishing off the stragglers as he spun and kicked his way through the center of the group. Breaking up their formation had always been a key strategy for taking them out fast, and Iggy focused on throwing as many of the soldiers off balance as he could before they could get a hit in. 

Bringing up his sword again, Gladio caught sight of Iggy moving faster and further away, and a string of colorful obscenities flew off his tongue. With just the two of them, they stood a better chance at beating these bastards  _ together _ \-- he couldn’t watch Iggy’s back if he was on the other side of the battle again. “Stick close, idiot!” he called, changing his own direction to follow Iggy’s path through the fight. “Slow down!”

Ignis heard him, but it was too late. Though he’d managed to decimate the MTs’ formation, the soldiers he’d cut off from the main group were now turning on him faster than he could throw them off. He dodged another cable aimed for his leg and whirled his blades, taking one trooper’s helm clean off its shoulders. The thing crumbled to the ground, but two more stepped into its place in an instant. Ignis felt his chest tighten with the realization of his error.  

Then, suddenly and from somewhere in the distance, the Leviathian gave a terrible, earth-shattering cry. The noise ripped through the city streets like a shockwave, shook stone and brick to the core, shattered windows, and sent both Gladio and Ignis to their knees with the force of its power. The Magitech soldiers, too, seemed rattled into chaos. Iggy threw his hands over his ears as the god’s cry rumbled like thunder around his frame. 

“Gladio!” he called out, wondering if his friend could even hear him. “We have to find Noctis!”

There was no reply, but he didn’t doubt his friend had come to the same conclusion as him: that Noct had either won the battle, or that Leviathan had. Either way, finding the prince had just become their top priority. 

The blast from Hydraeon’s cry was slowly beginning to fade, and Ignis struggled to his feet with renewed determination. Around him, the air seemed to vibrate with energy, but he could make out the wall of seawater just beyond the edge of the city. 

It was starting to fall. 

A breath caught in his throat -- fear and worry and hope for Noctis -- and for a brief, terrible moment he forgot about the battle waging around himself. In his distraction, he barely heard Gladio’s booming warning rise above the thundering din. “ _ Iggy, look out _ !”

Too late he saw the MT moving beside him. Too late he noticed the red flare of the armed blaster being leveled at his temple. Reflexes kicked in as the shot rang out. 

“ _ IGGY _ !” 

Gladio drew his sword with startling speed as rage propelled him forward. One slash was all it took to break that metal bastard into a thousand flaming pieces, but he didn’t even watch it go down. He kicked the hucking scraps aside and lunged for Ignis’s immobile form sprawled on the stones below him.

Blood.

Too much blood. 

Hands shaking, Gladio dug into his pack for a potion, an elixir, a phoenix down,  _ anything _ . He pulled them all out, tossed them on the ground, and lifted his fallen friend into his arms. 

“Fuck fuck  _ fuck _ , c’mon Iggy, don’t do this….”

The phoenix down was first. He held the bright red feather to Iggy’s face --  _ so much blood  _ \-- and held his breath while the magic took hold. Ignis was surrounded by a soft, warm light for several terrifying seconds…. 

And then gasped as his lifeforce blossomed with strength. 

Gladio clutched him tighter. “Thank the  _ gods _ ,” he breathed, wasting no time in reaching for the next magical concoction. “Iggy, drink this, hurry.”

The elixir touched his lips and he coughed at the bitter taste. Gladio was insistent, not letting up until the last of the liquid passed down his throat. Another bated breath, then, to his relief, the blood at last began to clear. 

But something was still wrong. Dark, black wounds sliced across Ignis’s brow, radiating out from where the gun blast barely missed his temple. It had apparently hit instead near the bridge of nose, and carried across both of Iggy’s eyes. The wounds showed no sign of healing.

In his chest, Gladio’s heart shuddered to a stop. 

“M-my glasses,” Ignis coughed, automatically patting around at the ground around him. “Gladio, my glasses, I can’t see.”

A groan, deep and pained, bubbled up in his throat. 

“Hey,” he said, forcing his voice to stay steady despite his rapidly rising panic. “I need you to slow down for a second.”

“But Noct is in danger, we have to go to -- “

“Stop.” 

“Gladio, let me up, I can -- “

“No.” A heavy hand, gentle but firm, gripped Iggy’s wrist and held him fast. Iggy struggled for only a moment before, with a heart-wrenching sob, he fell back against Gladio’s chest. 

“...I failed.”

Gladio swallowed back the lump in his throat. “Like hell you did. C’mon, I’ll get you outta here. Grab on and don’t let go.” 

He lifted Ignis as gently as possible off the hard ground, no longer concerned with the mass of broken MTs surrounding them, nor with the Niflheim engines that soared overhead on their way back into the city. Broken stones and debris littered the streets, the aftermath of the sea god’s raging cries, but a few buildings seemed to have survived intact. Gladio ran to one of these now, easily kicking in the wooden door and disappearing inside to relative safety. 

“Where’s your phone?” he asked as soon as he’d laid Ignis out on a sofa in the abandoned home. Iggy felt beneath him for a moment before pulling the thing out of his pocket. “Good. Keep it on and in your hand.” Already, Gladio had his own phone to his ear, and was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Prompto to pick up. 

“Hey, big guy! Ships are all out, I’m just on my way back t-- “

“Prompto, listen to me. Iggy’s been hurt. I need you stay with him while I go look for Noct.”

A stunned silence. “H-hurt? What do you mean?” 

“I’m sending you our location,” he continued, stealing a worried glance at his friend laying beside him. “Just get here,  _ now. _ ”

The line died, and he immediately switched over to text. He sent Prompto their coordinates, replaced the phone in his pocket, then kneeled down to once more look over Ignis’s wounds. 

“Does it hurt?” he asked as carefully as possible. 

Iggy turned in his direction, His right eye was mostly shut, swollen and bruised as it was, but his left eye was open wide and staring out at him. Unseeing. Pure white in a pool of black scars. “Not really. I’ll manage somehow.”

“Now’s not the time for pride. I need you to tell me the truth.”

A weak sigh. “A...a little. But please, Gladio, you must get to Noct right away. This is all for naught if we lose him.” 

“I know.” Gladio clenched his fist at his side, fighting against the overwhelming emotions flooding through him. True, his duty was to his Prince -- King, really -- and he was just as concerned for Noct’s safety as Ignis was. But he also couldn’t leave his friend behind, alone and injured. It would be cruel, and it would break his heart. Gently, he laid a warm hand on Iggy’s cheek and willed Prompto to move faster. 

It was several minutes later before the blond finally arrived, panting and doubled over his knees in the doorway of the building. “Glad...io…. I...made it…!” 

“‘Bout damn time,” the dark-haired warrior stood and headed for the door, meeting Prompto halfway into the room. Before he could speak, Gladio put a finger to the gunslinger’s lips and shook his head. “Listen to me. Iggy needs for us to stay calm right now. Whatever you do, don’t lose it in front of him. Promise me, Prompto,” he added, voice chillingly low as the blond started to protest. He couldn’t yet see Iggy beyond Gladio’s large frame, and his words only served to stir the panic in his chest. 

“But what  _ happened _ ?!”

He shook his head, already moving past him to the door. “I’ll explain later. Just stay here. Keep him safe.” Casting a last glance behind him, Gladio materialized his broadsword and rushed outside. 

Prompto swallowed. As he turned back to face the room, he could see Iggy lying calmly on the sofa and wondered for a moment if Gladio had made some mistake. He certainly looked to be in one piece as far as he could tell. But the nearer he got, the more obvious the dark wounds covering his face, and Prompto felt his hands shaking at his sides. “Hey, Iggy, you doin’ alright, buddy?” he called from the far side of the room, voice a pitch or two higher than usual. 

The older man sat up and looked around -- no, not looked,  _ listened _ , Prompto realized with a sickening thud. “Yes, I’m fine. No need for concern.” But there  _ was  _ need for concern. Loads of it. Ignis was wearing a thin smile as he faced straight ahead, past Prompto and at the hallway behind him. 

Testingly, Prompto shifted a little to the left. Iggy’s gaze didn’t follow. 

_ Oh, shit _ . 

“Um, y-you got some nasty cuts there. Bet that hurts like a bitch.” Smile never fading, Iggy turned as subtly as he could to follow the sound of Prompto’s voice. 

“Gladio gave me something for the pain. Really, I’m quite fine.”

“Sure.” Prompto had moved again, this time back to the right as he tentatively approached the sofa. Iggy looked a little frustrated as he once more turned to face the sound. “Gladio went to find Noct. We’ll all be together again soon, won’t we?” 

“Of course. Prompto, please sit down.” With a sigh, Iggy reached up to press gingerly on his temple. “I know what you’re doing and it’s not very funny.” 

Chewing his lip, Prompto closed the distance to his friend and kneeled down at his side. He wrapped his fingers around Ignis’s free hand without thinking. “S-sorry, Iggy, I wasn’t trying to be funny, I just…. I had to know.” He swallowed down his emotions as best he could. “You...really can’t see me, can you?” 

A tentative pause, Iggy parted his lips, then closed them again. Wordlessly, he shook his head. 

“Geez….” Unable to form better words, Prompto, too, fell into silence as he examined the jagged black wounds covering Ignis’s face. They weren’t unlike burn marks, black and rough and searing with red around the edges. A fire spell? That would have certainly done more widespread damage. A laser, then, probably from an MT blaster. But...that would have had to be point-blank,,,. 

Something warm landed on his forearm, and he realized with a start that he’d been crying. 

“Prompto?” Iggy sat up enough to lean closer to where he could sense the blond sitting. “Prompto, what are you --?”

“Oh, Iggy,” he choked out, nearly knocking his friend back onto the sofa as he threw his arms around his shoulders. “This isn’t right. You don’t deserve this! It should’ve been me!”

For the first time since the whirlwind of the battlefield, Ignis felt the walls of his shock, his denial, breaking down. Reality hit him in the chest harder than Prompto’s hug, and as the blond sobbed into his neck Ignis understood for the first time the seriousness of the situation. 

He was blind. 

He would never see again. 

He had failed his King completely. 

Never before had Ignis allowed himself to cry in front of the others. Even when news of Insomnia’s fall and Regis’s death had reached their ears, Ignis had grieved in private long after the others. Patience, endurance, calm. Those were supposed to be his strengths, that was how he had best helped Noctis all these long years. 

But now…. Now he clung to Prompto as tightly as the younger man clung to him and wept openly for the first time. The tears stung his wounds and burned his cheeks, but he couldn’t stop them falling over and over and over. More than self-pity, he grieved for his closest friends, at the thought that he’d managed to let them all down. 

Some time passed. How long Prompto held him he couldn’t say, but he was admittedly grateful for the company despite the circumstances. It was Iggy’s phone suddenly vibrating to life in his lap that finally brought them back to the moment. 

Prompto gently separated himself from Iggy enough to grab the device. “Gladio,” he read the name on the screen, and immediately picked up. “Gladio!”

“..Go...m….”

Static burst through the earpiece, and Prompto winced as he jerked away. “Gladio?! Where are you?” 

“I go…him!” 

“He’s got him! He found Noct!” Ignis reached out a hand and Prompto obediently passed the phone over. “Gladio, where should we meet you?” 

“...vil….” 

“Ville? The Leville Hotel?”

Something that sounded like confirmation -- Prompto couldn’t really be sure -- came through, and Ignis replied with a firm ‘got it’ before slipping the phone into his shirt pocket. 

“We’ve got to get back to the hotel. Can...can you help me?” As much as it pained him to have to ask for support, his pride would have to take a back seat until he could confirm Noctis’s safety for himself. 

Without hesitation, Prompto laced his fingers with Iggy’s and began to help him off the couch. “I’ll be your eyes,” he promised, and with that they headed out into the now-empty city of Altissia.

The city had been built like a maze, dozens of concrete islands connected by weaving bridges and spiraling stairs. At first, Prompto had thought the design quite beautiful, fun even, but at the moment he could only curse the ancient architects for overlooking the simple factor of practicality. For the few days the friends had wandered the city in peace, it had always been Iggy who had helped them navigate the labyrinth of streets and canals, but now…. 

He risked a glance behind him. Though he was trying to keep his pace slow, Iggy was struggling to stay upright behind him. One hand squeezing Prompto’s nervously, the other waving out in front of him like a walking stick, he was frowning deeply as he shuffled his feet beneath him. Guilt hit Prompto like a meteor. “We can take a break if you need to,” he offered, voice breaking, and slowed to a stop at the edge of the bay.

“No, no, there’s no time for that. I’m fine, please continue.”

“But,...” He bit down on his lip. He knew that, out of all of them, Ignis was often the most stubborn when it came to his own well-being, and that there was little use trying to talk him down now. Instead, he tried to do what Iggy himself would do in this situation -- come up with a plan. 

Ignis was a tactical man. He tended to see the world very much in black and white, where facts were god and the rest was irrelevant. In battle, he relied on his wit and his calculations to find weaknesses, and not unlike a computer he could store nearly limitless amounts of information in that brain of his. Maybe that was the best way to help him now, too. 

Quickly taking account of their surroundings, Prompto did his best to plot out the route immediately ahead of them. “Alright, we’re about twenty paces from the stairs, straight ahead. There’s a platform, then about fifteen steps up to the next level. Ready?” 

He watched Iggy’s face first tighten in surprise, then slowly relax as he figured out Prompto’s plan. “Let’s go.” In his mind, he could almost visualize the path in front of him, and as they took off once more he focused on counting each and every step he took.  _ Eighteen, nineteen…. _

“Going up!” Prompto called out, and right on cue Ignis hopped up the stairs after him. He counted those, too, until Prompto warned him they were nearing the top. “Ten paces then a sharp left,” came the next command, and Iggy’s mind map grew. They continued like this, hand in hand, Prompto calling out instructions and Iggy following them perfectly, until at last they arrived at the front of the Leville Hotel. 

Prompto stopped short at the entrance, and Iggy ran right into the back of him.

“Steady,” Ignis warned, clutching at the blond’s shirt for balance, but Prompto didn’t seem to notice. 

“Noct….” That single word left his lips in such a hushed breath that even Ignis froze in place. 

“Noctis?” 

No response, but the fingers wrapped around his hand tightened painfully. In silence, Prompto led him forward into the hotel lobby, when Gladio, Gentiana, and Weskham were gathered around the motionless body of their king.

“No.”

“Prompto, what’s happening?” 

“He...he isn’t moving, Iggy.” There was so much fear in that quiet voice, “He’s soaked, everything’s wet, I can’t see what’s going on….” 

Gladio noticed their approach, but didn’t take his eyes off of Noctis. “I pulled him out of the water. He fell in when…that  _ thing _ sunk down. Luna, too. I grabbed them both, but he was the only one still breathing.”

Prompto’s chest tightened even more. “Then Luna…?” 

“Gone.” 

Gentiana put a hand over her face and bowed her head in silence. Though he wasn’t sure if immortals could cry, Prompto guessed that’s what she was doing. 

But his own tears were held back for now. He exchanged holding Ignis’s hand to instead resting his fingers on his lower back, guiding him slowly and carefully closer to the table where Noct’s body was laid out. “Is he alive?” Iggy’s voice was tight, strained, his only concern for his friend despite his own condition. “Gladio?” 

Surprisingly, it was Weskham who answered. “Yes, he is. Barely. No one knows what happened in there, but my guess is he had to do something drastic to take down the Hydraeon. It seems to have taken an extreme toll on his body, as well as his mind.” In a low, tired voice, he explained as much as he could about the prince’s condition, filling in the gaps between the collapse of the water wall and Gladio diving into the sea. Ignis gripped white knuckled fingers around the edge of the table, listening to every detail as if he were reliving it himself. 

A doctor arrived around nightfall. They’d called him back from one of the refugee ships, and under his orders Gladio moved Noct to a large bed in one of the rooms facing the sea. The doctor examined him for hours, but in the end he could only come to the same conclusions Weskham had -- namely, that Noctis was in a delicate condition and would awaken when his body had regained its strength. 

Despite Ignis’s insistence that he was fine, the doctor took time to examine his injuries, as well. Gladio paced the room and Prompto sat at Iggy’s side on the sofa as, over and over, the doctor asked him to close, then open, then close his eyes again. It was painful and humiliating, but it didn’t take long for him to come to a more solid diagnosis. 

“While I’ve never seen wounds exactly like these before, I can tell you that the damage to the left eye is, sorry to say, quite permanent.” Prompto squeezed Iggy’s hand and leaned in against his shoulder. The advisor merely gave a solid nod. 

“And the right one?” That was Gladio, rounding the edge of the sofa to stand behind his friends. “Any chance it will heal?” 

Iggy felt his chest fall as the doctor let out a sigh. “Impossible to say for sure, but the damage is less extensive on that side. The injury is likely internal and therefore may partially mend with time. But,” he frowned. “I cannot recommend getting your hopes up.” 

Prompto was crying again, silent tears as he stroked Iggy’s arm. “‘Hope’,” he laughed weakly, then lowered his gaze to his lap. 

Gladio’s hand on his shoulder was little comfort. Beside him, their tactician, their advisor, their rock had been crippled. Behind him, their beloved prince lay still in a supernatural slumber. Three of the Six were slain, the Empire was closing in. The Crystal and the Oracle were lost. What ‘hope’ could there possibly be for them now? 

Ignis thanked the doctor in a solemn voice, and he took his leave along with Weskham. Gentiana had disappeared some time ago, though neither Gladio nor Prompto had actually noticed her leave. At last, the four friends were alone in the room to face their burdens together. 

“What do we do now?” It was Prompto, who, more than the others, already felt so lost without Noct or Iggy to take charge. 

“We carry on. But for now, you two should rest,” Ignis smiled and patted his arm. “I’ll stay here with Noctis.”

“Sure. We’ll take shifts.” Gladio clapped the back of the sofa as he turned toward the door. Usually good with words, he found that this time there was little else he could say or do. They needed some time. “C’mon, Prompto.” 

The blond glanced at Iggy, at the black scars running the length of his face and the tightness in his smile, and sighed. “Thanks…,” he said quietly. “You should rest, too.”

“I will. See you in the morning.” 

With a heavy nod that Ignis couldn’t see, Prompto go to his feet and followed Gladio to the door of the room. He glanced back once, then stepped out into the hall and disappeared. 

Ignis released a low sigh. Atop the arm of the sofa his hand was trembling. He clenched his gloved fingers tightly into a fist, fought the urge to slam it against something hard and fast. No, violence had never been his style, and it certainly wasn’t going to get him anywhere now. Placing his shaking hands gently in his lap instead, Iggy settled back against the cushions and resigned himself to the spot. Maybe it would be hours, maybe days before Noctis awoke from his spell. But once he did, Ignis wanted to be waiting for him. Now, more than ever, he was determined to prove himself at his king’s side in any way he could. 

  
  
  



End file.
